If you ever need to check that your body is producing adrenaline, just travel through China. My flight to Nepal featured a 22 1/2 hour layover which gave me many opportunities to do something stupid. I was successful.
I was heading to Nepal because I had to apply for my indian visa from my country of residence. I couldn't apply before I left because their visa validity starts from date of issue. Yet I needed the visa before booking my flight and I needed a flight out of Taiwan when I entered. (I feel like I'll be able to be a travel agent by the end of this.) So the cheapest way was to fly to Nepal for two weeks during which I'd apply to graduate schools.
I'll spare you the details but basically upon landing I was passed around to a series of officials before finally being given to a man who stood up on his little platform looking both menacing and annoyed as he handed me my passport and said, "You have 24 hours in China. No more."
Point taken sir.
T Minus 21 Hours
Luckily for me I had an iPad and Skype so theoretically (or so I thought) I would be able to connect to the Internet and call for my shuttle. Unfortunately for me, not being Chinese I'm not allowed to access the free wifi at the airport. I called via a payphone (yeah, those exist in China) and settled in to wait for the shuttle that never did show up. (In all fairness they did send me an email that they were waiting at domestic departures, but without internet I was still at international arrivals.)
T Minus 19 Hours
About two hours later I gave up and decided to try my luck with a taxi. Little did I know my hotel was in some bizarre location that no gps could find. So, I was refused.
"No problem" I thought "sure it's not ideal, but there's an entire floor of this brand new airport devoted as a traveler's rest area." Oh my optimism. The traveler's rest area turned out to be a dimly lit large room 3 floors underground with hundreds of single plastic chairs. I only wish I had taken a picture. It also seemed to double as the Chinese military's break room. I lasted about 45 minutes.
T Minus 18 Hours
There was only one more option I hadn't tried-- the local taxis, that group of people that ask you if you need a taxi when you leave the terminal. I walked out and was immediately swarmed. I tried being smart about it going with the one woman who offered, though her price was higher. She took my bag and lead me to the parking garage. After she put my suitcase in the trunk and I opened the back door of the car to find that it was already full of people. Panic.
I tried to get my case back, and was unsuccessful so I wrote the license plate number on my arm and we were off. The man driving immediately started screaming angrily (or at least it sounded angrily) into his phone. I frantically tried to think of a good excuse for why I had done something so stupid as we went to the outer skirts of the city on a dirt road where we pulled over, much to the anger of the other people on the road. A van pulled over in front of us and the people in the back of our car got out and took my bag putting it in the van. The driver looked at me and started screaming "money, money!" Horns were honking, my bag was in a different car, and I was worried I was being robbed or kidnapped without knowing it. Not ideal.
T Minus 17.5 Hours
I paid him, and petrified got out as they sped away. I got into the other car and after about 10 agonizing minutes I thankfully realized it was the long awaited shuttle from my hotel. The shuttle driver probably wondered why I went from being so scared to looking so happy. The hotel owners apologized and took money off my bill. I took a quick shower, and fell asleep to the low murmur of English CCTV and my neighbors who sounded like they were dying by slowing coughing up their lungs.
T Minus 6 Hours
In the morning, I hiked over a small mountain of bricks and plastic to get to the shuttle. We picked up two men, one of whom tried unsuccessfully to make conversation in Chinese with me. Once I got to the airport I sat down and was swarmed. I had about 5 elderly Chinese men on my left and about the same number of young Chinese men on my right all trying to make conversation via elaborate hand signs. I got "your smile *thumbs up*" but it wasn't working too well until iPhones were pulled out and translation apps were used. While they tried to convince me to come to Bangkok with them and ask me what I did for a living, I tried to explain my fellowship to them. It didn't translate very well. I ended up leaving them thinking I worked for the U.S. government and they no longer wanted me to come to Bangkok. Close enough.
I was heading to Nepal because I had to apply for my indian visa from my country of residence. I couldn't apply before I left because their visa validity starts from date of issue. Yet I needed the visa before booking my flight and I needed a flight out of Taiwan when I entered. (I feel like I'll be able to be a travel agent by the end of this.) So the cheapest way was to fly to Nepal for two weeks during which I'd apply to graduate schools.
After booking I found I was allowed to leave the airport on a visa free 24 hr transit, so I booked a hotel with a free airport shuttle. I called to confirm my shuttle and hoped I was all set.
The flight was uneventful. I just thought it was a bit funny that my window seat in row 37 was actually a wall seat in row 9. But my flight was uneventful.
Row 37: I'm guessing this is to make the plane seem bigger
T Minus 22 HoursI'll spare you the details but basically upon landing I was passed around to a series of officials before finally being given to a man who stood up on his little platform looking both menacing and annoyed as he handed me my passport and said, "You have 24 hours in China. No more."
Point taken sir.
T Minus 21 Hours
Luckily for me I had an iPad and Skype so theoretically (or so I thought) I would be able to connect to the Internet and call for my shuttle. Unfortunately for me, not being Chinese I'm not allowed to access the free wifi at the airport. I called via a payphone (yeah, those exist in China) and settled in to wait for the shuttle that never did show up. (In all fairness they did send me an email that they were waiting at domestic departures, but without internet I was still at international arrivals.)
T Minus 19 Hours
About two hours later I gave up and decided to try my luck with a taxi. Little did I know my hotel was in some bizarre location that no gps could find. So, I was refused.
"No problem" I thought "sure it's not ideal, but there's an entire floor of this brand new airport devoted as a traveler's rest area." Oh my optimism. The traveler's rest area turned out to be a dimly lit large room 3 floors underground with hundreds of single plastic chairs. I only wish I had taken a picture. It also seemed to double as the Chinese military's break room. I lasted about 45 minutes.
T Minus 18 Hours
There was only one more option I hadn't tried-- the local taxis, that group of people that ask you if you need a taxi when you leave the terminal. I walked out and was immediately swarmed. I tried being smart about it going with the one woman who offered, though her price was higher. She took my bag and lead me to the parking garage. After she put my suitcase in the trunk and I opened the back door of the car to find that it was already full of people. Panic.
I tried to get my case back, and was unsuccessful so I wrote the license plate number on my arm and we were off. The man driving immediately started screaming angrily (or at least it sounded angrily) into his phone. I frantically tried to think of a good excuse for why I had done something so stupid as we went to the outer skirts of the city on a dirt road where we pulled over, much to the anger of the other people on the road. A van pulled over in front of us and the people in the back of our car got out and took my bag putting it in the van. The driver looked at me and started screaming "money, money!" Horns were honking, my bag was in a different car, and I was worried I was being robbed or kidnapped without knowing it. Not ideal.
T Minus 17.5 Hours
I paid him, and petrified got out as they sped away. I got into the other car and after about 10 agonizing minutes I thankfully realized it was the long awaited shuttle from my hotel. The shuttle driver probably wondered why I went from being so scared to looking so happy. The hotel owners apologized and took money off my bill. I took a quick shower, and fell asleep to the low murmur of English CCTV and my neighbors who sounded like they were dying by slowing coughing up their lungs.
T Minus 6 Hours
In the morning, I hiked over a small mountain of bricks and plastic to get to the shuttle. We picked up two men, one of whom tried unsuccessfully to make conversation in Chinese with me. Once I got to the airport I sat down and was swarmed. I had about 5 elderly Chinese men on my left and about the same number of young Chinese men on my right all trying to make conversation via elaborate hand signs. I got "your smile *thumbs up*" but it wasn't working too well until iPhones were pulled out and translation apps were used. While they tried to convince me to come to Bangkok with them and ask me what I did for a living, I tried to explain my fellowship to them. It didn't translate very well. I ended up leaving them thinking I worked for the U.S. government and they no longer wanted me to come to Bangkok. Close enough.
